1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for encoding video data, a method and an apparatus for decoding video data, and a program recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for encoding video data, a method and an apparatus for decoding video data, and a program recording medium, which can perform a demosaicing process of raw image data without regard to a format of the raw image data or an update of the format.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video cameras or camcorders that record moving pictures and image pickup apparatuses, such as digital cameras, for example, that record still images generally record data on recording media such as, for example, flash memories, hard disk drives (HDDs), or digital versatile disks (DVDs). This data is recorded on such a recording media after performing a demosaicing process such as an interpolation process on signals output from an image sensor (image pickup device), for example, a charge coupled device (CCD), and compressing the signals in a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2 or a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format.
When the recorded image data is replayed, the image quality of the image data is degraded since an irreversible compression process was performed on the image data. Therefore, some of the image pickup apparatuses such as the digital still cameras directly record the signals output from the image sensor in a raw data format without performing the demosaicing process or the compression process. Japanese Laid-open Patent No. hei 11-261933 discloses a technology of recording image data after selecting a recording format between either the compressed format, such as JPEG, or the raw image data format.
The raw image data format varies depending on manufacturers of the image pickup apparatuses or the kind of the image pickup apparatuses. Therefore, when the demosaicing process of the raw image data is performed, a developing process needs to be performed using software corresponding to the raw image data format of the manufacturer or the image pickup apparatuses.
In addition, when a parameter or an encoding method of the raw image data format is changed, a formatter installed in the image pickup apparatuses needs to be updated, and the demosaicing software needs to be updated. For example, if the raw image data format is not updated in the demosaicing software even though the raw image data format is updated in the image pickup apparatuses, the demosaicing process of the raw image data recorded by the image pickup apparatuses cannot be performed. In addition, even when a reserved flag is prepared in consideration of future expansions of the raw image data format, the demosaicing software identifies the raw image data as an unrecognizable format, and thus, the demosaicing process of the raw image data cannot be performed based on the extended format.